I was thinking about buying this but??

[GentleLight]

Mixed reviews are bad.

I've never played Atelier games before. Which one should I play?

[Im Begging on my Knees]

ryza

[Tasty]

Originally posted by GentleLight:

Mixed reviews are bad.

I've never played Atelier games before. Which one should I play?

Rorona or ayesha or sophie or ryza
Just pick the one you think is the cutest

[IxianMace]

Here's a guide I used (among other things) to decide where to start:
https://barrelwisdom.com/blog/atelier-series-guide

When I was thinking about where to start, I narrowed it down to Sophie or Ryza (Mysterious or Secret trilogy). I got Sophie DX near the end of last year. I'm still playing it. The alchemy is very satisfying, and I've really enjoyed not having any time limits as I familiarise myself with this franchise.

Do you like time limits? Do you prefer turn-based combat or active-time battles? How invested are you in exploring the Atelier franchise? I wouldn't recommend Atelier Yumia for a complete newcomer due to the price alone. I don't know what your regional equivalent is, but it costs over $100 for me, and that's the base game! That's a lot to invest for getting your toes wet.

I suggest waiting for a sale and picking up the game of your choice.

[Minneyar]

Mixed reviews usually happen when a game is good but it either has significant technical issues or it's being review bombed. It seems like the former is the case here, as a lot of people are seeing bad performance issues. You can always try the demo for this game and see if it bothers you.

But if you want to try a different Atelier game, depending on what you think sounds most interesting:
Atelier Rorona was the first "modern" Atelier game with 3D graphics. It has a relatively light story, turn-based combat, and a strong focus on item crafting with strict time limits and is considerably more difficult than recent games.
Atelier Ayesha's gameplay is similar to Rorona's, but its time limits are much less strict; it's good if you're looking for a more casual introduction to the Atelier games.
Atelier Ryza is the closest to being a "normal" JRPG; it has no time limits, a slightly stronger main story, and it still has menu-driven combat but introduces some real-time elements.